Paddling as fast as I can...

It's been that kind of week.

Uber busy.  Worked through last weekend trying to finish up some changes to procedures and get some reports out by Monday.  The changes have been long in coming and, honestly, I have kinda procrastinated on getting them done earlier.  Been trying to get them done while doing the normal work stuff, but everyone seems to need my advice/input/comments and I just cannot seem to get any traction during normal hours.  I finally resorted to taking the entire weekend alone at the office to knock out the changes and get them posted.  I've tried the same at home but there are too many distractions (both have fur and tails) and I just couldn't seem to find the right motivation.  I finally got everything done but I am about a month behind.  Implementation will take the next two weeks and I have many other things that are taking top priority.  Got another road trip planned - an audit the week after the 4th in Wisconsin and Chicago.  We have an outside agency coming in the following week to do our annual audit and everyone is getting uber paranoid getting prepared.  I have a ton of stuff to do and little time to do it.  Next few weeks should be interesting...  

Speaking of interesting, I lost one of my buyers last week.  He retired on Friday and I am having to open up the search for a new buyer.  I've had mixed feelings about this deal.  The buyer has been with us for many years, but decided two weeks ago that he was going to retire.  Got an e-mail from him late Friday evening that he was retiring with two weeks notice.  Needless to say, it kinda took me by surprise.  I fully appreciate someone who has worked long and hard towards retirement, but I would have appreciated a bit more a warning about this change.

Update on my dad.  He finally got his surgery appointment scheduled for next month on the 21st.  It is not considered urgent or critical so the date is more of a scheduling deal to fit everyone's schedules.  My dad is not happy with the date (wants it sooner) but he is going take what he can get for now.  I am not exactly thrilled with the prospect of him going under the knife at 91 next month but I am trying to keep a positive outlook.   

And I have a mystery challenge.  While driving along one of the main roads a few weeks ago, I spotted an interesting site.  A bike along the side of the road.  A very orange bike.  From initial glance, it did not appear to be a factory paint job.  It looks like an older bike painted day-glo orange and staged at a certain spot.  I finally took time yesterday on the way up to the trailer and pulled over for a closer look.  No real clue what it means - no sign or posting on it.  I am thinking it was a memorial to a cyclist that might have been killed at that spot much like a roadside cross.  I have tried to search the net for some meaning but have come up dry so far.  

Bueller? Bueller?

Yea, I'm still here.  Been busy the past few weeks and I kinda lost track of time.  Wrapping up the fiscal year at the office has us doing all sorts of handstands and cartwheels.  I spent 4.5 hours in a meeting on Wednesday reviewing a new project that is supposed to launch in September in the UK (4.5 hours of my life I will never get back).  Had to host another supplier conference on Tuesday.  Just all sorts of fun stuff just to keep the ship upright and heading in the right direction.  Somedays, the bait shop is starting to look better and better (inside joke).  

On top of the work stuff, I've been uber busy at home.  About the last time I posted, my PC decided it was time to retire.  And not in a good way.  I've seen this one coming for a while so I have been backing up my files and trying to prepare to jump to a new system.  Still, having the box die on my two weeks prior to tax day did not help make it easier or less complex.  Got a new system, but had problems from the outset.  Started setting up the new box when it quit displaying any images (graphics died).  First thought it was the PC was having issues and took it back to the store.  They tweaked it and told me to try it again.  That didn't work so I got a new system.  Tried 2nd box and still no picture.  So the next step was to try out a new monitor.  Hadn't intended to get one but it turned out that the monitor was DOA as well.  Seems suspiciously convenient, but it worked.  Now I have a new box and huge screen to read everyone's blogs.  I intend to spend part of this weekend playing catch up with everyone.   

Of course, setting up the PC has been not with out some challenges/headaches.  I try to keep an open mind on new technology and changes (even got an iPad last year), but I have to admit that I really starting to hate Windows 8.0.  Nothing like my old set up.  Links are not where I expect them, the screen set up is totally different, I am still trying to figure out where the files are stored and how to recover some of my pictures from the cloud.  I have been working through several scenarios and I am about 75% back to normal, but still not happy with the set up.  I know this sounds so whiney and there are way more important things to worry about, but this just irritates me.  One interesting thing I discovered was that somehow, all of my favorites got imported over to the new PC.  Not sure how that happened but I am able to find all of my old favorites and links that I set up on the old box.  I blew a few days revisiting some of the old blog sites I used to follow to see if they were still in business. 

In the meanwhile, life moves on despite my PCs travails.  Spring has arrived and the dogs have been busy collecting as many goatheads as they can carry.  I take them to the neighborhood park and wind up with so many of the prickly things that I have been contemplating going Chihuahua on their coats.  No, I won't go that far (that would get one ostracized from the GBGRR meets), but it is tempting.  Spent last Saturday at a local charity event in Houston for dogs called Doggy Party at CityCentre.  A massive gathering sponsored by the city (even the Mayor was there) of various organizations for dogs and their servants owners.  Booths for vet services, grooming, dog food, boarding, training, supplies, and even a group for emotional support for pet loss.  They have a special line of booths for rescue groups like ours called Rescue Row where we can try to drum up attention and donations.  There is even a mini parade for the rescue groups with some potential big prizes.  Last year our group took first place so we were going for a repeat.  Some of our group tend to go overboard for these things and this year was no different.  One woman made capes for all of the dogs as our theme was Rescue Heroes.  Was funny to see 30 or so Goldens in capes.  One guy even build a float out of plywood and paper Mache in a distinctive shape (see the picture).  Good turn out but we wound up taking 2nd place.  Still pretty shiny gifts for 2nd place.  All sorts of donations for food and services from companies - we tend to use them later on at our annual picnic as prizes.       

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unique bakery treats for dogs

 

A well trained dog

 

 

Two heroes resting up

Heeeeere's Johnny!

Ok, folks, I'm back on line.  Don't ask me how or why, but when I woke up this morning and found we have 4 lights on the router.  And the technician appointment is still for tomorrow afternoon.  I secretly feel that there is some sick, twisted, evil gremlin in the system that knows when the service technician is coming and then, MIRACULOUSLY, the system heals itself.  Kind of like when you take your car into the shop to fix that "noise" and the noise disappears (and the mechanic looks at you like you are all sorts of stupid).  This has done this to us before.  Had an outage before I was going to Manila and had booked an appointment but when the system cured itself I cancelled the appointment.  I did call Comcast again last night and really leaned into the CS guy (Shane) about the Sunday date and how I had been without a net since Monday and Is Sunday the Best you Guys Can Do?  He was, as with the rest, very apologetic and swore he would contact the local technician office and they would call me back in an hour to see if they could help.  Sat down to watch my latest NetFlix sucky choice:  Contraband (totally forgettable) and, after three hours, gave up on them (not that I had high expectations anyway).  So far, no call, but the net is working.  This time, I am going to keep the appointment tomorrow to see if the technician can figure out what the heck is the problem.        

Thanks for everyone's sympathy/well wishes.  We had been without the net I had almost reverted back to barbarism (reading the paper, watching the home shopping network, going to the library, etc.).  At least I don't have to resort to posting my blog via iPhone (for now).  It was a bit of a challenge, but in keeping with my mantra:  Improvise, Adapt & Overcome (ok, I stole that from the Marines) and I learned to work around the system.  Not to bore everyone with the details, but, basically, in order to post to my blog, I would write my blog notes in an e-mail to my yahoo account and then capture the note from my iPhone when I had a WiFi signal and post up on my blog.  And posting via that tiny screen is "interesting" to say the least.  That's why you see some repeated lines or mis-spellings.  Hard to correct some of my words after they have posted.  And forget about posting pictures (I ain't mastered that trick, yet).    

So, now I am playing catch up with everyone's blogs.  Been trying to read and comment via the iPhone, but it's been hard to keep up.  Especially with the frequent fliers (sorry Abby but your security password is hard to navigate from my phone).  

In the interim, getting back to something I started before I flew off to the Philippines last week - random pictures.  Anyone recognize this figurine?  I took this picture while on the phone with the Comcast service guy.   

Extra points if you can give me the actual name of this one  

Playing catch up

It was a good road trip to Austin last week, but as I told SR300, I’m still paying for it now.  I take 2 ½ days off to play hooky in a training class and I find myself 2 weeks behind on my chores. 

I started out drafting this as a general gripe about how swamped I am and how I don’t have time to do these road trips, but then I realized how whiney that sounded.  Oooh poor me.   Waah waah, I’m sooo busy.  Geeeze.  Talk about a pity party.  

Life’s busy for everyone.  A lot of people have bigger problems than mine.  I need to shut up, hit the streets, and get to work.   Time to put my big boy pants on and deal with it.       

A spot of refreshment in Austin

Austin was nice.  I got to spend a few hours with my son on Monday before the training started and was able to share a few beers with him.  Training was good - more geared for sales negotiation and advocacy training, not something I normally face each day, but interesting nonetheless.   

Driving through some of the burn area south of Bastrop.
Last year, those trees were so dense, you couldn't even see the buildings.

Drove back Wednesday night and have been running non stop ever since.  I was able to knock out a few chores at home (yard work, vet appointments, dog park), but the weekend seemed to fly by.  This week has already had all sorts of different tasks.  My company is big on donating to the Epilepsy Foundation (our core business), so we are having a multitude of fundraisers leading up to the Epilepsy Walk in April.  Each year we sign up a large number of people to participate and we hand over one single check to the foundation from all the fundraising efforts.  Last year we ponied up one of those Publisher's Sweepstakes-sized checks for $77,777.  This year, given all the events and donations we've had, we are on track for, go figure, $88,888.  Lord knows what they will shoot for next year.   I am involved in a number of these activities and it is great to see the end results, but after several back-to-back pushes, one does get a bit tired.  I am supposed to play in a charity golf tournament in two weeks, against my better judgement (gave it up a few years ago).  I haven't picked up a stick in almost two years and this could be ugly.  I have told the guys in my foursome they might want to up their insurance.  Yesterday, we had a chili cook off with a number of departments competing.  It is usually a glorified food fest with a variety of different chili flavors/recipes.  Our operations group took top prize (3rd year in a row) and they get to participate in a bigger cook off to be held in Houston in late March.  Not a bad event with lots of different themed booths (like the 60's Peace, Love and Chili team) and they pulled in over $9200.         

Chili cook off 

Medic Alert chili team

Yea, life's tough.

One day closer to retirement

I wish. 

Early on in my Army career, I an old E7 platoon sergeant who was pretty salty. He was a lifer and had been around a long time and taught me a lot of things you don’t learn in school. Whenever we wound up in some stupid situation or had some dumb requirements/tasks to accomplish, he would just shake his head and say “One day closer to retirement, Sir”. That’s become one of my mantras ever since.

Been busier than a one-armed paper hanger with an itch. Once again, I am up to my butt in work trying to get stuff done between now and the end of the year and still need vacation to burn. I picked up a lot of silly projects and tasks while keeping up with my real job. I got signed up for another road trip for a supplier audit, but this time it is back to Europe. I’m flying over to Belgium next month for an audit and business meeting. I know, I have absolutely no room to whine about this, but it is just screws up my plans/schedule. I should be grateful for the opportunity but I am still cranky about it for a variety of reasons: 1) I really don’t have time for it right now, 2) I’m not looking forward to another pair of 10-12 hour flights, 3) It’s the wrong time of the year to go to Belgium (cold and wet), and 4) I am scheduled to fly back on the Wednesday BEFORE Thanksgiving (supposed to be the busiest day of the year for flying).  I have made it a point to not travel during that time of the year and here I am right in the middle of it. Would sit home and watch the news reports on how busy the airports were and how full the parking lots were getting and think to “Glad that ain’t me.” This year I get to be a part of the circus.


Still, somebody has to do it. Just like my other trips, I plan to make the most of it. Got the weekend free in Brussels and intend to do as much exploration as possible. Anyone care to guess what Belgium is famous for?

Chocolate and Beer

I've been given instructions to come back with some...

You are what you eat

It sucks getting old.

Not too long ago, I used to be bullet proof (or so I thought). I could eat anything, drink anything, smoke cigars, dip snuff, without any consequences. Back in college, I could eat two pizzas, down a liter of coke, a pitcher of beer and still go out for some dancing at the Sparky's. I could easily drink two six packs of Lone Star (The State Beer of Texas) at night and still get up 0700 and stagger off to class. Now if I drink a lite beer past 8 o'clock at night, I have to get up at 0200 to go pee. My standard breakfast used to be 2-3 sausage biscuits drenched with picante sauce. Now I have to take Prilosec in advance if I even think I am going to eat something spicy. In Germany, the frou and I used to be regular wine connoisseurs. We did a number of trips to the wine region along the Rhine and Mosel river to local wineries. Did numerous wine tastings and brought home cases of wine. Now, if I have even one glass of Merlot or Cabernet, I am up all night with heartburn. Jalapenos used to be my favorite topping at Whataburger, now I cannot even look at one of those little green suckers without getting indigestion.

Last week we had a chili cook off at work as part of our fundraiser effort. I did ok as long as I prepped for it and did not eat too much chili (shied away from the Chili Sheen team - Duh!). They even had a jalapeno eating and root beer chugging contest (winners get an extra day off). The winner of the jalapeno contest downed 8 (eight/ocho/ocht) medium jalapenos (medium in size, but uber hot). Made me cringe to think of the poor guy the next day. Jalapenos is one of those "payback" foods - you wind up paying for it later.

You learn to adapt as you get older. I no longer eat pepperoni on pizza. Will shy away from jalapenos & habaneros and tend to skip the cilantro. Greasy foods are kryptonite to me. Even alcohol needs to be regulated. Even at night, I tend to watch what I eat or how late I eat so it does not affect me later. Thought I was doing ok last night. I only had a chicken pot pie (old childhood favorite) last night for dinner. Not sure if it was that or the vodka tonic that I had (been a long week), but I was up 1/2 the night with some serious butt-kicking heartburn. Doubled up on the Prilosec, popped some tums, drank milk - nothing I took seemed to help. The only relief I got was to sleep sitting up, but even that was minor. Finally dropped off around 0230 only to get up at 0400 to get ready for work. Even now, I am still urping. You'd think, after all these years, I would know better.